GOP students reflect on political climate

Nationwide, college students lean liberal-and Duke is no exception. Some student Republicans have said they feel stigmatized for belonging to a group with different views from the Democratic ideals.

"I think people have a gut reaction on the surface," said sophomore Cliff Satell, vice chairman of Duke College Republicans. "They see Republicans and Republican policies and have the gut reaction that it's evil. Not just wrong, but evil. I wish people would pay a little more attention to some of the details and really dive deeper into what it means to be a conservative. What it means to be a Republican. And judge us on merit."

According to The Chronicle's election poll, conducted from Oct. 27-30 among undergraduates eligible to vote, 35.5 percent of respondents identified themselves with the Democratic Party and 12.84 percent identified with the Republican Party.

But Duke Democrats President Ben Bergmann, a sophomore, said he thinks that compared to other American colleges, Duke is more conservative, even though liberals may be in the majority.

"From a minority viewpoint, it's always a challenge speaking out against a majority with different views," senior Abby Alger said. "It's easier to speak out now being a senior than it was freshman year."

Sophomore Jake Bullock, vice chairman of College Republicans, said this limitation on expression carries over into the classroom as well.

"We're surrounded by professors who will openly disagree with you without providing serious warrant," he said. "You try to bring up conservative ideas and who knows what will happen? You could get lucky and have a professor that's sympathetic to that or at least your right to articulate that position. There are also times when conservatism is suppressed."

Professor of Political Science Peter Feaver worked for the administration of former president George W. Bush and is Republican. He said he believes that having a more politically and intellectually diverse staff would promote the richness of debate as well as ease his own burden of having to play the role of "token Republican."

"I'm asked to speak to represent the entire spectrum of Republicans, speaking thus in a role rather than being allowed to present my own views, which don't fit in a pigeon hole. But I'm asked to fill that pigeon hole," Feaver said.

But Feaver is an example of a professor that Bergmann said is an avid faculty proponent of the Republican cause on campus. Bergmann added that such support contributes to overrepresentation of Republicans at Duke, especially because the Republican groups receive more media attention and have more publications.

Republicans also have a visible presence on campus, said sophomore Gregory Morrison, Duke Democrats' vice president of internal affairs. He added that Duke seems to have about the same number of Democratic activists as Republican ones.

The performance of the Republican Party in the last decade, however, may have shaped perceptions of the Republican Party, said junior Vikram Srinivasan, president of College Republicans, noting that the sole exposure of many young people to the party was the Bush presidency.

"In Bush, they've seen Katrina, they've seen early mishandling of the Iraq War and Republican corruption scandals," Srinivasan said. "That's their understanding of the Republican Party."

But the administration of President Barack Obama may leave a different impression on young people today. Although junior Natalie Figuereo, junior class representative for College Republicans, contributes to conservative publications, she said she believes the Obama administration is more appealing than current Republican platforms, noting that the word "Republican" is being associated more and more with a "neo-conservative, war-mongering image."

Alger noted that the Republican Party should become more attractive to young people. She contributes to and co-founded "NextGenGOP" and "Real World Republicans," two blogs that seek to communicate Republican ideals to a younger generation.

"There's a lot of baggage in our age in identifying ourselves as Republican, and I want to work to remove that," Alger said.

In addition to better communication of the ideals of the Republican Party, another way to decrease stigmatization of Republicans on campus would be fostering more cross-party conversation, Feaver and Bullock said.

"It's not about winning or losing as much as it is about learning. I would definitely be open to seeing more political discourse and debate on campus, provided that it's on terms of equality," Bullock said.

Some students said they believe that Republican beliefs can be more accepted in the future if the party can find a new identity that resonates better with college students.

Freshman Trent Salazar expressed optimism that the Republican Party could successfully "rearticulate [its] ideals for the new millennium."

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